Sidekick'd
by Amber Masquerade
Summary: SUPERHERO AU. "If you had the power to control all of Death City just by raising your little finger, would you do it?" In a city filled with villainy and crime, it's up the heroes to keep it safe. But what happens when one of their identities is discovered by their worst enemies? - Contains villain!Soul and heroine!Maka. Mildly-crackish.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello! Amber is here with another AU! I don't know where this one came one, but I was planning on making it slightly-crackish since it involves superheroes and villains and all that stuff. I know that I should be finishing my other stories and such but I just felt that I needed to get this idea out of my head before I lost it. So enjoy!**

* * *

_H__e was in a dark alleyway at night, facing a blackened brick wall in front of him in the narrow pathway._

_"Would you want power?" A deep voice echoed from above. "Power so unimaginable that people would tremble in your presence," the evil Demon's rumbling voice cooed, calling his attention. It sat on the fire escape, legs crossed and hands against the edge on the side of a building, and stared down at him with a smirk on its face. "I can give you that power."_

_"Who the hell are you?" he retorted._

_The small bald devil's body was a deep hue of maroon, with black circles around his eyes and horns on the top of its head. It was wearing over-sized polished black businessman shoes, and its arms were long and lanky with giant hands at the end. "You can call me Demon. You might say my name is quite fitting, is it not?"_

_"What the hell are you supposed to be?"_

_"I am a business man, my dear boy. I am here for one purpose, and one purpose only: to give you power."_

_The boy scoffed. "You certainly don't look like a businessman. You don't even look human," he deadpanned._

_He chuckled slowly. "You are right about that, boy. But my business is not of the normal type." He leaned down closer to him. "But enough about me. This is about you. My business is about granting unimaginable abilities to regular people like you."_

_"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously._

_"Great power. So much power you would be drowning in it." _

_The boy smirked, revealing a row of glistening sharp teeth behind his lips. "You're lying. That's impossible. There's no way you'd be able to give that."_

_The thing ignored his question. "If you had the power to control all of Death City just by raising your little finger, would you do it?" Demon grinned maniacally, glowing white eyes centering on him. "If you let me help you, you will be able to do anything you can imagine. Don't you want that?"_

_He mulled over his words for a quick beat. "How in the hell are you gonna give it to me?" he reiterated. "You're just some little red freak with horns in a suit."_

_The little devil chuckled darkly. He rose off of his perch atop a high fire escape and leaped off the edge of the 5 story edge. He landed on both feet, leaving an indent in the concrete below. His arms were so long and lanky that when he hunched over the tops of his over-sized knuckles skimmed the ground as he sauntered towards the boy. "I have all the power in the world. I can spare you some. But, only if you agree," it smirked._

_"Agree to what? Is there a price?"_

_"No charge." The boy's rising suspicion grew evident on his face. The demon frowned. "I promise you, there is no trick behind this. I give you a solemn swear that I am not lying."_

_"How am I supposed to be believe you?" he asked._

_"My dear boy, I am only trying to help you. I know who you are, Seth Evans. I've been watching you for a while now. I know about your poor mommy and your abusive daddy, I do. I know that you want to help her at all costs, and that none of Death City is willing to help you. So I will extend my hand to a poor boy like you. The deal will be that I will grant you access to powers, powers that will be permanent upon you once I grant them. The only wish I have from you is that you use them as you see fit, whether for good or for evil," he said, bowing his large head. He held out a large maroon hand with elongated fingers towards him. "Now...to make your wish come true, all you have to do is shake my hand."_

_The ivory-haired boy frowned, clenching his fists. "Sorry, demon guy. I don't take random kindness from strangers. Especially a creep like you." He turned around and started out of the alleyway and to the illuminated sidewalk. _

_Demon grit his teeth as the boy got father away. "Hold it!" it said, raising its hand. "Are you saying that you would sacrifice your own family for your own selfishness?" He stiffened and halted in his walking. The boy turned around slowly, ruby eyes staring coolly at the demon. "You can save her. C'mon, Seth. What have you got to lose?"_

_He stared hard at the little devil. "...What kind of powers are we talking about?" he asked, perking an eyebrow._

_The thing's mouth spread into another grin. "Invincibility, flying, intelligence, strength, invisibility...and more. However, the only downside is that neither you or I may choose which ones you want. When I grant you access to them, they will be chosen completely at random. However, there is no such thing as a 'bad' power." _

_He held out his grotesquely large hand to him once more. _

_He stared at it hesitantly as he slowly swung back around. His fists were still clenched. "Can you guarantee that nothing bad will happen to me afterwards?"_

_"Yes, I can. However, what you choose to do next after acquiring these new abilities are completely up to you. Now...will you take this Demon's hand? I can guarantee that you will live a completely different life than what you are living in now. C'mon, Seth. All you have to do is reach..." he coaxed. _

_He bit his lip. After a quick decision, he tentatively reached out his right hand towards him. Demon's smirk grew bigger with each nearing inch. _

_When his hand was finally in reach, he snatched it with a hard grip. He burst out with an uproarious laugh. "The deal is sealed!" he yelled. The next thing the boy remembered was a bright, flashing light accompanying an intense burning in his right hand, and then complete blackness._

* * *

His eyes shoot open. Sunlight assaults his eyes with a harsh white glow. The boy's eyes dart around the room and finds that he's in his room, in his bed with the sheets tucked over his body. He jolts upright, gasping heavily, drenched in cold sweat. He runs a trembling hand through strands of unkempt white hair and calms himself down. The door to his room is closed. The pair of jeans and his jacket that he had worn last night are slung over the back of his desk chair.

For some reason, his dream felt oddly and eerily real. He remembers nothing that happened after he took the demon's hand, and the really strange part was that he couldn't remember changing or going to bed the night before either. All he can recall is that he was wandering around Death City late at night. He glances down at his right hand as well as his arms. They look perfectly fine. He lifts his pajama shirt and scans his tan chest. Still nothing different. He slumps over with a sigh. It _was_ a dream after all.

He slips off the side of his bed and stands up, wobbling a bit as he steadies himself upright. He lets out a yawn and stretches his arms towards the ceiling as his body shudders. His 14-year-old body feels no different than he would on a regular Saturday morning. He ventures slowly over to the door and creaks it open. His mother is asleep in her bedroom. He can hear her heavy breathing from the hallway leading down to her room. His father is noisily snoring away on the couch. He yawns one more time and enters the bathroom. Without bothering to seek his reflection in the mirror over the sink, he rubs his eyes for the first time to rub away the tears. "Ow!" he yelps as his fingers touch his eyes.

It felt like he had been burned by something hot. Slightly shocked, he glances down at his finger and finds that the part of his finger that he used to touch his eye is slightly red. Like a small burn mark. He reaches up slowly and tries to rub his teary eyes once more and finds that his fingers feel sharp pain with contact. His tears feel like they're hot, and not the normal lukewarmness of his body, they're actually _hot_. Confusion hits him like a brick.

He scrambles to the mirror and leans into the glass carefully. His garnet eyes are two luminescent orbs. He does a double-take. His eyes are literally _glowing_ in the likeness of embers from burning coal. He stumbles back and trips over his own feet, landing on his ass. Before he could react the heat in his eyes intensify and shoots out from his pupils. A loud boom echoes through the house. His eyes go blurry. He can feel smoke proliferating around his face and around the room. When he blinks and looks back up again, there's two holes seared through the mirror and into the wall behind. Shattered fragments of glass from the mirror lay sprawled out on the milky tiled floor and in the porcelain sink. With panic now settling in, he crawls across the floor and picks up a shard, letting the edge dig into his palm. A shaky hand lifts the piece up examine his face.

The expression of his face is one of pure bewilderment. His eyes are no longer glowing as brightly as they were before, and the light emanating from them is not as strong anymore. He crawls up to the sink and sweeps the glass away, flicking on the faucet. He cups the water and splashes his face with water.

Maybe he's still sleeping, he thinks hopefully, and his eyes did _not_ just blast a hole into the wall.

He glances up against sees the damage. He slaps himself in the cheeks to jolt him again. Still nothing. He's not dreaming at all. He rubs his eyes this time and thankfully discovers that they aren't hot anymore. With the sink still running, the boy slowly backs up from the bathroom and out into the hallway, eyes widened with shock. He shakes himself, pinches his shoulders, slaps his cheeks, tries _anything_ to wake him up from his shocking revelation.

"_I can give you power_."

Demon's voice echoes in his mind distantly.

_No_, he reassures himself. _There's no fucking way in hell this is happening to me._

He had fired a laser beam through his eyes, was impervious to being cut by the glass, and he cannot not come up with a proper explanation.

"Didn't I tell you before?" Demon's voice murmurs into his ear.

He jerks away as the thing materializes next to him, floating in the air where he was standing and staring at the bathroom. "Y-You're real?!" he stammers.

Demon chuckles. "Of course I am. You didn't think I was some dream that you can forget, now did you?" he taunts.

He swivels his head back to his damaged bathroom. The sink is now overflowing with water and spilling out from the porcelain rim and pouring down onto the floor. "What the hell is this?!" he demands, motioning to the two holes in his wall.

It rubs its chin slowly. "Hm, I see you've already discovered one of your abilities. Laser vision."

He does another double-take, gaze darting from the demon thing to his flooding bathroom. "Laser vision?! You mean you did this to me?!"

"Well yes. You chose to shake my hand last night, remember?"

"But that was only in my dream!" he insists. He can hear his mother starting to stir from the other room and his father's snoring has stopped, meaning that he's now awake too. If his parents - mostly his _step_-_father_ - finds out that he wrecked the upstairs bathroom, he'd literally, without the slightest hesitation, murder him.

"Your dreams is not a dream anymore now. You have woken up in this new reality, this new life. As I said last night, these powers are irreversible. You're stuck with them for the rest of your life," he informs him.

"Great. Fucking wonderful. Does that mean I'm gonna blast holes in every wall that I lay my eyes on?"

"Not if you learn to control it. Your powers are still in its preliminary stages, boy. It means that you can still improve them." He hovers towards the confused boy. "Are you satisfied?"

"S-Satisfied? I have no damn idea what the hell I am! What, a-am I some _mutant_ now?! Some freak with laser vision?!" he shouts.

Demon shrugs. "You tell me, Evans. You will decide your destiny with these powers."

"You mean I have more than one?" he asks, rubbing his shoulder.

"I have no way of knowing that. Look at your hands."

Out of the confusion, he forces himself to stare down at his palms. Despite touching glass over and over, they don't have even one scratch on them. He clenches his fists. "The hell...?"

"Invincibility is also a valuable ability as well. You'd be able to withstand bullets, take blows without flinching - "

"No, no...this isn't happening..." he mutters to himself with utter disbelief. And to think he woke up this morning with a positive thought in mind. He grabs the sides of his head and pulls down against his hairs with frustration. "There's no way - !"

"Soul...? Is that you? What was that loud noise just now...?" his mother's sleepy voice registers in his head. He can hear her slow steps from the master bedroom.

"Fuck!" he curses, sprinting into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. He locks the doorknob and distances himself from the door. Swinging around, he shuts the faucet and allows the flooding water to finally swirl down the drain.

Demon appears in the air next to him again. "It's your choice to reveal your powers to your parents," it offers.

Soul, now bending down to gather up the shards in his hands, offers him a glare in return. "No way! They'd...they'd think I'm some kinda freak!" he scowls as he shoves the glass in the trash bin.

"Soul, sweetheart, is that you? Are you okay in there?" the soft voice of his mom can he heard through the door. She knocks lightly and Soul freezes.

"Um, I'm fine!" he shouts back after hurriedly mopping up the puddles of water up with all the hand towels from the rack.

"Okay, you sound like you're having some trouble in there," she says with audible concern in her tone.

"Nope! I'm fine, I swear!" he insists.

"This will certainly be interesting, now won't it?" the little devil chuckles to himself.

"Shut up!" he hisses. "Whadif she hears you?"

Demon shakes his head slowly. "At the moment, I am only audible to you and only seen by you."

"Then why don't you help me clean this shit up?"

"Soul, who are you talking to?" asks his mother.

"No one!" he shouts back. He wipes the sweat from his brow and continues to sop away the water with the already-saturated towels and resorts to toilet paper.

"I'm afraid that in my form I am not tangible, either. If I were to chose to manifest right now, then I'd be seen and heard by others. But, if you insist on me changing, then I'd happily oblige - "

"Never mind that, then." He compiles the soaking toilet paper and dumps a large wad into the toilet and flushes it down the drain. "How in the actual hell am I gonna fix this?" he murmurs while examining the baseball-sized black craters in his mirror. He knows at some point that he'd have to explain it to his step-father. He doesn't fear what would happen to himself, but to his mother. After all, he's _her_ son, and therefore in the eyes of his step-dad everything that he did can be blamed on her.

There's an abrupt and forceful banging on his door. "What the fuck are you doin' in there, Seth?!" his supposed dad demands. "You better not be fucking up the bathroom! Or else I'm gonna strangle you!"

Soul sighs with frustration. He can hear his eyes heating up already, which allows him to guess that his laser vision is also partially controlled by his emotions. He concentrates through his father's yelling and threats to subdue the feeling and prevent another hole in the tiles again. "I ain't doing anything! Lemme take a shit, will ya?!" he barks back.

"Don't talk to your father like that, you little prick! I swear, if you mess up my bathroom, you are outta here! I will literally throw you outta this house, ya hear?!"

Soul rolls his eyes. "Loud and clear," he retorts dryly.

When he senses that his father had left, he scoops up the drenched towels against his shirt and dumps them in a heap in the bathtub. He turns to the little demon with an exhausted look. "Do you think there's a good chance that I can magically go through walls or something?" he asks.

It shakes its head. "Sadly, no. But, you can use your super strength to patch up the holes in the wall."

"I have _super strength_ too?"

"Well you never know until you try."

The boy sighs and glances down at his uninjured hands. Invincibility, laser vision and super strength. He reaches down to the floor to pick up some of the scattered wall fragments that were once embedded into his alabaster bathroom wall and squeezes them tightly in the palm of his hand in hopes that, if he actually _had_ super strength, he'd be able to smush the pieces back together and stick them back into the holes. When he still feels the pointed edges digging into his skin, he squeezes harder.

When he opens his palm, the pieces had disintegrated into dust. A normal human would not have been able squeeze that hard. Demon's eyes light up. "Laser vision, invincibility, and super strength. I will ask you one more time, Soul."

Soul cocks his head at the mysterious little devil.

"How will you use these powers to your advantage?"

After a moment of contemplation, the boy smirks. "However I wanna use them."

"Good choice. Although, I must warn you of one thing..."

"What?"

"You are not the only person in this city who has powers."

* * *

A young girl, only aged 14 year, ash-blonde hair tied into two pigtails with two olive-green eyes sits at a bus station with her face buried into her book. She pays no mind to the passing crowds around her as they bustle about the streets of Death City early in the afternoon on a regular, sunny Saturday afternoon. She takes her eyes off of the book for a moment just to steal a glance at her silver wristwatch. Still 11:30 am; the bus should've been here twenty minutes ago. She sets her book down for a moment to sigh heavily. She can't afford to be late today.

Behind the bench is a row of stores: a bank, a restaurant, a small clothing shop, all squished together. The restaurant is buzzing with customers, and the clothing shop has a few people looking around, but the bank is strangely quiet. Its metal guards are drawn down over the double glass doors in the middle of the day, even though people would occasionally enter to withdraw or deposit their money. Though she's not thinking much of it, she can't help but feel that something's wrong.

Just as her gut instincts had predicted, an alarm suddenly goes off, wailing directly behind her. She swings around on the bench. The red flashing lights at the bank entrance are flashing wildly as a shrill bell rings. A buzzing hum fills the air suddenly, followed by a loud crash and boom. The glass shatters and the metal bars are blasted away by what seems like a red flash of light and burns a large hole right through the front. She jumps from her seat.

From the interior of the bank a boy, dressed in black jeans and black leather jacket wearing a ski mask. His eyes are a deep scarlet red and steaming. He slung a sack over his shoulder while burnt dollar bills flutter around him and leaps out onto the sidewalk, veering a sharp left and into an alleyway aside the bank. The girl, seeing enough action to convince her, sprints after him. "Hey! STOP!" she screams after him, entering the path where he had gone.

Halfway down the narrow pathway he skids to a stop. He turns around slowly. She can see a wide smirk of a row of sharp, white teeth. Stark red eyes contrast with his black mask. "What do you want?" he asks.

"I said to stop!" she barks.

"What the hell? You're just a little girl," he scoffs.

Her mossy green pupils glare daggers at him. "You're stealing money from that bank! You can't do that!" she shouts.

"Yeah, and what?" he asks.

"You can't just take what isn't yours!" she glares.

She can see the nonchalance in his maroon gaze. "So what? You're gonna try and stop me?"

"Yeah," she says coolly.

He sighs. "You got a death wish, girlie? Didn't you see what I did with that door? If ya want, I can do the same thing to you," he smirks.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she says with a low growl.

"I'm warning you. Don't try to be the hero here."

She holds her ground and continues to glower at him.

He backs up a few steps, slightly intimidated. He shrugs it off. "Whatever." He turns back the other way and starts to walk away. "Go home and play with your dollies or something."

She reaches out a hand to stop him. "Hey! I said wait! Come back here! Stop ignoring me!"

"Don't worry, that won't be the last time you'll see me around," he grins.

She grits her teeth. "I said..." She holds her clenched fists above her head. "STOP!"

Two small fists pound into the ground with a loud bang, causing a shockwave to sweep throughout the alleyway. He swings around as a wave of upswept concrete hits him and sweeps him back. His back slams into a brick wall. He chokes, gasping in for air as her slow footsteps approach him.

_"You are not the only person in this city who has powers," _he remembers.

His gaze shoots upwards. "Fuck," he mutters under his breath.

He scrambles to his feet as she nears him. "Where do you think you're going?!" she demands. "You're not leaving until you return that money!"

He grits his teeth, wide eyes scanning around for a way out. "No way! I stole this money fair and square!"

"Then die!" She picks up the silver top of a garbage can and flings it like a frisbee at him. He ducks as the razor sharp circle flies past his head at an amazing speed and he darts down the alley. "Come back here!"

He's no longer running to steal the money, he's running for his life now. He turns back and fires his laser at her, but she only ducks to dodge them without even flinching. He makes it to the end and out the other side and into the busy sidewalk with her following close behind. He doesn't want to use up his laser vision, but at least he still has his super strength and invincibility.

He takes a right and tries to disappear with the onslaught of people. "Hey! Get back here!"

Her voice is distant now. He smirks out of his nervousness. Had he lost her?

He ducks into another alley. There, he takes off his mask and breathes in heavily. He checks his sack and sees that the money is still in there. Soul smirks. He had completed his first heist. "I told you to stop."

"Ah!" he jumps back, startled. The girl floats down from the top of an apartment roof and lands right next to him as he struggles to fit his mask back on his face. "You can fly, too?! You've gotta be joking."

"I can do a lot of things," she says, eyes narrowing. "Now give that money back."

He grits his teeth. "Alright, fine. If you want it so bad, then take it!" He hefts it over his shoulder and gives it a it a whirl, flinging it back at her. It hits her and she falls backwards. He takes the opportunity to run. He wills himself off the ground and flies away (he had discovered he learned to fly when his father literally kicked him out of the house and he failed to land on the ground).

He as he gains height he glances back and sees the girl still on the alleyway floor, brushing the dirt off her skirt.

* * *

He settles on the roof of his apartment building, where no one can see him. He's drenched in sweat and exhaustion and adrenaline. The girl's voice keeps flashing in his mind. He didn't get a good look of her face to memorize it. Demon materializes next to him once again, this time on the ground. "So? Have you discovered what you want to do now?" it asks.

Soul sighs and squeezes the ski mask in his hands. "Someone's already out there with their powers."

"Ah, so you've finally met your adversary? That would explain why you don't have the money that you'd promised you'd come back with to me," it chuckles.

"Yeah. She's as powerful as me. Nearly killed me."

"Did she steal the money from you?"

"No, she chased me so I could return it. What kinda goodie-goodie girly says no to money?" he asks, exasperated.

"Well, well. I see that you've met your match already, eh?" it says. "Are you willing to give up your villain-complex?"

"Villain-complex?"

"Yes. In this story, you are the villain. The girlie that you met must be the hero, right?"

"Well...I guess so..."

"Then you're the villain. Are you not?"

Soul shakes his head. "I dunno what I am. But I know I ain't one of those good guys."

"You can't be an in-between, Soul. Decide who you are."

He scratches the back of his head. "I guess I'm a baddie."

Demon smirks. "Is that so...?"

He shoots him a garnet glare. "If you want me decide, then shut it and stop asking me questions."

It shrugs. "I hope you know that I will not be here with you all the time. I am a businessman, after all. I'm just trying to make sure that you are sure of yourself before I head off," it answers.

Soul leans back on the chimney and gazes up at the sky. "Don't worry, there's not really anymore of a choice anymore. I'll play along with your little story here, even though I still have no idea why you've chosen me, out of all the people in this whole damn city. But I do know one thing: I'll be the villain."

Demon's grin grows wider. "That's _excellent_. _Perfect_, actually. And if you continue down this new path that you are on, there is nothing that will stop you from achieving your goal. Well, what is your goal, exactly?"

His eyes darken slightly. "...I want mom to be happy. One day, when I get enough money I'll take her outta this place and buy her a better, bigger one. She can finally leave that old creep that I hafta call 'dad.'"

"That's good, _wonderful_," it chimes eagerly. "In anything, I wish you the best of luck with these new abilities. I will disappear for now. I have other matters to attend to. But, if you are in need of my services, then you'd know where to find me."

There's a whoosh right next to his head. When he turns to the little devil, it's disappeared into thin air. In its wake, it leaves a small slip of paper where it once stood.

Soul sighs heavily. He gazes down at his hand, still uninjured and clean. He's not sure whether to embrace his new life or be fearful of it. He knows he can return to his regular self and hide his powers, but now his life has taken a dramatic turn. He's the villain, and he has to be. Because he knows he'd never be able to fulfill his mother's dream with practical ways, or at least not in time to prevent her "husband" from hurting her anymore. Sadly, he realizes that, in any story or in any cartoon with superheroes and villains, the bad guys will always lose, and the good guys will always win and he has no idea how to change that.


	2. The Pigtailed Princess

**A/N Heeeyyyy guys! I'm finally back again! Sorry I'm late (again), I have so much work on my plate and SATs and PSATs and all that crap, but I promise I'm still trying my best to update! Hope y'all like this chapter!**

* * *

3 years later...

"_Tonight on Death City News, channel 5: our city's hero has done it again! Just this morning, the evil villain who goes by the name 'Soul Eater' attempted to rob the Death City National Bank!_"}

The reporter at his desk disappears and the tv screen cuts to an image of a white-haired boy with crimson eyes, dressed in a black suit and small hat and black polished shoes, taken from the view of a security camera. He runs out of the smoking vault that had been exploded with an arsenal of bombs and seared at the edges around the circular metallic door. The bank itself had been empty and destroyed by the blast. The alarms are flashing on and off against the black and white screen, but its wail is muted on the television. The white-haired boy dressed in sleek black and a white mask that shields the top half of his face has a large burlap sack filled to the brim slung around his shoulder. He glances around the room with a smirk, then runs out of the bank and out of the camera's view.

The announcer comes on again: "_He nearly succeeded, had it not been for the city's famous hero, the Pigtailed Princess! This courageous young girl, with her wondrous powers, stopped this evil bandit and returned the money safely to the bank and helped put this heinous criminal behind bars!_"

The scene cuts to a video recording of a girl with pigtails and a black eye mask that covered the area around her eyes and wrapped around the top half of her head as well. She wore a school girl's outfit: a white button-up top and red tie hanging from her sky blue collar with a blue miniskirt and black spandex covering her legs, all with a fluttery silver cape and white boots. She gives a soft smile to one of the cops and acknowledges the camera as she hands over the sack of cash to the bank owner, who then shakes her hand vigorously as the camera zooms in on her earnest face. She's surrounded by a large crowd and the flashing of other cameras behind her. After the bank manager thanks her profusely, she gives a modest wave to the fans around her and leaps into the sky, soaring off into the distance and above the tall city buildings while the recorder follows the trail of her cape behind her. The image then changes to the scene where the white-haired masked villain was being handcuffed by the police and shoved into the back of a cop car with a sour look on his face.

_"Of course, this is not the only time the Pigtailed Princess has struck! This is only one of the many times she has stopped the even Soul Eater in his malicious deeds! We thank you, o' great heroine! For saving this city and keeping it safe from any -"_

He shuts the television off abruptly, glaring at the empty and darkened screen with a bitter look on his face. The infamous villain Soul Eater, now undressed and in his regular clothes, sits on his beaten couch with his legs up on the coffee table that is topped with junk and empty wrappers of eaten food and old newspapers. On each newspaper is the ink picture of his all-time nemesis. The main protagonist of practically _any_ superhero story in this whole goddamn city, the girl he despises with all of his being: the Pigtailed Princess, whom he had a fateful encounter with on his second attempt to rob Death City's First National Bank just three years ago, right after obtaining his powers. Soon after, it became a ritual for them: he shows up and breaks into some jewelry store or bank, she finds him and stops him and jails him, he breaks out anyways and the vicious cycle repeats itself.

From their constant banter between each other since they see each other on a regular occurrence he's been able to guess a few things about her: she's the one known to save babies from flaming buildings, he's the one who tries to snatch big money, she makes the headlines daily and somehow has time to hide her identity, while he gets tomatoes thrown at him and gets booed whenever people see him in his super villain outfit, which are thankfully not his actual clothing, he's a natural loner while he guesses that she's miss perfect and is surrounded by a barrage of friends, despite her alter ego as a super hero. She probably lives in some mansion in the richer part of Death City. He lives in the lower east side, stuck in a dingy little apartment that has nicks and rips in its wallpaper, dirt-ridden wooden floors and dank rooms. Her life his probably perfect. His is filled with trials and tribulations. He didn't even want to get into detail about how and when his parents found out he had powers and abandoned him three years ago, either.

He could argue that she was on the receiving end of 'better powers:' she's got super strength and is able to lift up at least a ton, invincibility to practically anything including bullets (though he knows she's got a weakness, but he has yet to figure it out), the ability to fly at a decent speed, and super smarts. He can argue that he got the short end of the stick from that stupid demon guy. All he has is laser vision, his own ability to fly, his own form of super strength and, of course, his super good looks and charm. Apparently this is not enough to get a decent amount of cash in this city. As much as he'd rather not dight, he's gotta make a living somehow.

Soul slumps over on the couch, miserably realizing that his stomach is growling. Today, he's thankful that he's able to afford a small meal since his stealing never really gets him anywhere. Getting a job is also out of the question, since, in his _regular_ life, he's notorious for being a delinquent among schools, which subsequently means that no one wants to hire him.

Sometimes when he wasn't plundering or breaking into heavy-doored vaults, he spends his lonely nights soaring slowly above the blurred city lights and eventually perch on Death City's tallest building without getting noticed, just staring out into the distance. This night he contemplated on doing so, right after he got something to eat at the local convenience store. Arguably Red Bull and Doritos isn't enough to sustain a healthy diet, but he doesn't care about his body.

Soul forces himself to rise off of the couch. His body his achy after powering through the maximum prison they always put him in, but he always prevails in escaping anyways. The police never really cared to keep him in jail since they knew that she'd end up putting him back in there anyways. Making sure that his outfit is tucked away in the bottom drawer of his clothing shelf, he grabs his keys and heads out the doors of his crammed, dilapidated apartment complex on the 7th floor. The perk of being on a high floor was that he could easily fly out his window and into the night without being noticed, but he always made sure to keep his powers hidden unless he was in costume.

The night is chilly and crisp outside. Soul pulls his jacket hood over his head with a small shiver and crams his hands in his jean pockets. The smell of gasoline and exhausted and desperation hang faintly in the air as he passes the multitude of people on the busy sidewalk of Death City, slowly shouldering his way towards the convenience store only a few blocks down. He purchases his junk food quickly and hurries home. This time, he treats himself to an old and stale salty pretzel to ease his disappointed spirit. When Soul is about a block away from his house he ducks into a dark alley. There, he makes sure he pulls his hood over his head to protect his identity, and wills himself to fly. With the bag of food in one hand and his other hand in his pocket, he soars off quickly to his building. He always leaves his window open and unlocked because he knows that there will be a point in time where he's too lazy to walk.

Soul lifts his window open and floats inside, landing next to the couch. He pulls back his hood and sets his goods down on the table, returning to his previous position before he left with his pretzel in hand. He flips open the television, knowing that nothing good would be on, and watches it anyways. The first channel he has is the news. Of course, usually the only thing they'd show is the weather, followed by an over-peppy and over-exaggerated reported about how the Pigtailed Princess saves the day again. As he flipped the tv on he sourly discovers that he missed the weather just five minutes ago. On his screen is a pre-recorded video of blonde-haired adversary soaring across the sky from a camera view down below with a triumphant smile on her face.

The tv screen immediately goes blank afterwards. He decides that he doesn't want to watch it after all. He wanders over to his drawer and opens the bottom one, revealing his outfit. It was his only suit, so he decided long ago that he didn't want to be referred to as 'the-super-villain-in-jeans-and-a-hoodie' man and instead wore this suit. Whenever he decides to use his powers even when he isn't up to doing anything bad he wore it just in case to protect his identity. He changes quickly. With his groceries in hand, he flies out the window and into the star-speckled night to enjoy his meal elsewhere.

* * *

A volley of bullets fly past her head. She grits her teeth and dodges above the top of a streetlamp as a black van swerves across a busy intersection with the blaring horns of oncoming cars following it. The back doors of the van swing open forcefully again, and two men appear from within the car with AK-47's and empty rounds at their flying target who was speeding right above their van. She zig-zags across the sky and continues her pursuit without even flinching. A boy on a seemingly flying skateboard soars next to her at a high speed. "Are you okay?" the boy on the skateboard hovercraft asks. He's dressed in a black suit with cartoonish and round skulls sown into the top of his shoulders.

"You know I'm impervious to bullets, Kidd," she answers. "But it's still annoying me. Do you think you can take out their guns with one of those bombs?"

Death the Kidd reaches for the bulky black belt around his waist, filled with small push-activated bombs, stun grenades, little knives, and a grappling hook. Unlike her, he doesn't have the power to fly so he had to find his own means of transportation. Even though he's one of the minor heroes, not known by many, he is gifted with the extraordinary ability of being able to make practically _any_ technological gadget with his extreme smartness and know-how. He designed his hovercraft from his old black skateboard. He even made his own homemade twin pistols and everything on his belt.

"Don't underestimate me," he grins. Kidd pulls a grenade and rips the pin off with his mouth, flinging it to the street below. It soars right in the back of the open van, startling the two men. The flying girl cringes as a sharp explosion rips throughout the streets. The van skids a bit, but then keeps going. The bomb had only taken out the two in the back, but it didn't have enough power to take out the driver as well. It makes a sharp turn and veers into the next street over, disrupting other cars and causing more traffic.

"You over did it a bit, but that's good anyways," she says as they turn to where the van had gone.

"YAHOOOO!" a screechy cry yells from above them. The girl looks up and sees a figure cloaked in all black, wearing a long black scarf that shielded the bottom half of his face, leaping from one rooftop to the other. He turns around while running and pulls down his scarf, revealing a bright smirk underneath. "THE GREAT AND MIGHTY BLACKSTAR IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!" the spiky blue-haired ninja shouts and pulls up his mask again.

BlackStar is known as Death City's number one ninja. Blessed with extreme agility, deadly accuracy, and strength like no other, he has so much potential in easily becoming one of the greatest heroes in all of the city, if it weren't for his super ego. If he can finally swallow his pride and stop ranting to each enemy on how great he is, then maybe he'd finally be able to catch one for himself. But for now, he resides in the Pigtailed Princess's shadow, fighting alongside her.

"You're late," the blond deadpans flatly.

"Greatness shows up on his own time!" he cackles, until he accidentally rams himself into a pole and falls behind.

The girl sighs and keeps flying with Kidd next to her. "Do you think I should take out the tires?" Kidd asks.

"Nah, leave it to BlackStar. He'd get pissed if we didn't give him any action anyways," she says.

"If we wait then they'll get away with the jewels!" he retorts.

"Don't worry, if that happens then I'll just keep chasing them."

"AHAHAHA! THE AWESOME STAR HAS RETURNED!" the ninja announces as he finally manages to catch up with a large pole-shaped dent in his beaming face.

"Do us a favor and take out the wheels!" she orders him.

He grins. "Right away, Princess!"

He slips a ninja star from his pockets and whips it towards the street below. It lands perfectly in the side of the rubber tire, right besides the axle. The tire deflates immediately. The driver loses control of the vehicle, swerving uncontrollably and finally tipping over on its side after veering to the left. The street it is currently on continues on for 20 more feet or so until it splits left and right, leaving the sliding van on a crash course with an apartment complex.

The girl picks up her speed and rushes towards the unstoppable upside-down van. On the sidewalk directly across is a frail old woman, seeing the van as it slides towards her but unable to get out of the way in time. The blonde girl lands right in front of the elderly woman on the sidewalk and positions herself to brace for impact, holding both hands out forcefully in front of its path. As the van nears, she glances behind to give the fearful woman a reassuring look. She steps out with one foot as the van skids into her, using her super strength and all of her might to stop it. With a metal screech, the van slows against her push and manages to force her feet a few steps back and nearer towards the old woman, who was cowering with her walker.

The vehicle gives one long lurch forwards along with a metallic groan, then settles back down against the pavement, only a few inches on the sidewalk. It wobbles back and forth with its roof dented on the ground, and then stops. Kidd and BlackStar land next to her as she rips off the broken driver door, and a man in a ski mask spills out from the driver's seat upside down with a sack that lands on the ground in front of her feet. The contents of the bag spill out onto the sidewalk as the man lands face-first into the concrete, too dizzy to fight back. Money bills and rare jewel necklaces sprawl out from the mouth of the bag and litter the floor.

The heroine turns to her comrades with a smirk. "Told ya we'd do it."

Star's too busy admiring the jewelry while Kidd's eyes are planted on the street behind them with twitching eyebrows. "Yes we did but..." he gulps. "We've made such a mess out of Death City's perfect streets!"

The girl sighs. She slaps the ninja's hands away as soon as she realizes that he's reaching for some cash. "You can't take this, idiot! It's not ours!" she scolds.

Star frowns. "Can't I take just one? There are so many in there anyways!"

She shakes her head sternly while Kidd rants in the background about how symmetrical and beautiful and unscathed the street used to be until the van caused a small level of destruction.

"Not even a small jewel?" he whines.

"I said no!" she counters. "Don't you even think of the mission when you're on it?"

"The only thing I think about is the reward we'll be getting at the end!" he chortles.

" - And this car is too left, and this car is too right, and this line is uneven - " Kidd continues to mumble to himself as he stares out into the street.

"That's not the point, BlackStar. A hero is all about doing what's right and asking for nothing in return," she informs him.

He pouts with the likeness of a bratty child. "Well that ain't fair! We should get _at least_ money when we do this!" he complains.

" We'll need a carpenter, a painter, and an organizer for this whole intersection!" Kidd announces to her. "We can start by removing the traffic, and then the - "

"That's the city's job, not ours," she reminds him.

Police sirens wail in the distance. "The police are here. Should we leave this guy here?" Star asks, motioning to the still-unconscious man from inside the vehicle.

She nods. "Yeah, they'll take it from here. That's our cue to leave." She grabs onto the ninja's arm and Kidd brings out his hovercraft skateboard, and they soar up into the air and off away from the crime scene, right before the cops swarm the area.

"So, how did we do this time Maka?" Kidd asks.

The flying girl, whose real name is Maka Albarn, a 17-year-old high schooler, is also known as the city's heroine the Pigtailed Princess. Every person with any powers would relate her powers to the likeness of Superman's. Since she has a myriad of abilities, she is considered the cream of the crop of Death City heroes, adulated by citizens. However, not everyone is keen with her heroism. As the hero, she is often targeted and despised by other villains and bad guys who are extremely envious towards her advantageous superpowers and seek revenge. She doesn't really blame them, though. She'd be jealous if someone had such powers other than herself as well.

"You guys did just fine. Kidd, you got a bit too distracted by the mess. BlackStar, you can't be selfish after completing a mission," she says.

"What?! How are we selfish?" the ninja complains loudly. "We're the ones who are doing all this work and we don't get anything!"

"That may be the case, but it's what a hero does," she reiterates. "As a novice, you should still know this."

The blue-haired boy huffs and crosses his arm as they soar over blurred traffic lights and distant cars, maneuvering their way around tall skyscrapers. "So what else is there to do tonight? Ain't there any better job than stopping some jewel thieves?" he asks.

Kidd chuckles. "I find it amusingly ironic how, no matter how many criminals we manage to put in jail, there are always more in their place."

Maka sighs discontentedly. "Ain't that the truth," she mutters. "I hope there isn't any more things to do. I've gotta go home and start studying for tomorrow's test."

Star offers a disgusted look and a scoff. "You're always like that. We always end the nights short because you always hurry off home!"

"Hey, school is as important as saving the city!" she counters.

"Now, now. Since Maka's the leader she can leave. If you want to keep going then you do that on your own," Kidd admonishes.

"Since when was Maka the leader?" he retorts.

"Well, I _am_ and strongest," she offers.

"I would've been the strongest if it weren't for your stupid superpowers!"

"That still doesn't mean you can act like an ass!" she deadpans.

"Well that doesn't mean you can keep rubbing your powers in my face!"

"What are you talking about?! I can't help if I have these powers!"

"You wanna fight right now?!"

"You do realize you'd lose, right?"

"Hold on, both of you!" Kidd shouts above their rising argument. He sighs as their started eyes turn to him. "You two always act like bickering children. Won't you just stop competing with each other and make up for once?"

They both fall silent. The cityscape from below suddenly transforms into the suburbs, with lined up houses and clean-cut lawns and sidewalks. It's the outskirts of the city itself, but many people also live in the surrounding suburban neighborhood. Including the Princess herself. She lowers her path slightly, coming towards the ground closer. She can't be seen, even though the neighborhood is quiet and everyone is seemingly in her house. Kidd follows her into a patch of wooded area behind on of the houses. She lands and lets go of Star's sleeve. "You two can keep going if there's anymore action. I'm retiring for the night," she tells them.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come with? I mean, the night's still partially young. It's only eleven pm," Kidd frowns.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm tired too. I wouldn't be of much use anyways," she smiles softly.

Star exchanges a glance with Kidd and he shrugs. "Alrighty then. See ya tomorrow," the ninja shrugs.

BlackStar mounts Kidd's skateboard and they both take off into the night, soaring away while Maka watches them leave. She hunches her shoulders over and leans down with exhaustion. She's had enough action for one night. Being a heroine and a straight-A student at the same time requires more than just casual studying.

She loosens the buttons of her silver trench coat and unties the mask from around her eyes. She obviously can't waltz into her house all dressed up in her outfit, so she always has a back-up plan. Maka ducks to the ground and peeks under the foliage, grabbing in some leaves. Her regular outfit was hidden among the bushes. She glances around to make sure that she hadn't been followed, and quickly changes. When her hero outfit is finally off, she neatly folds it and tucks it under her arm. She dons on her regular school outfit - a yellow sweater vest, white undershirt, red plaid miniskirt with green striped tie - and trots from the shade of the canopy of trees towards a fenced-in backyard of a normal, suburban house. One last time, she glances nervously over her shoulder to make sure that absolutely no one had witnessed her changing in the middle of the woods. Even though she had been doing this for about 3 years, she's never hesitated to be paranoid.

After clearing her suspicions, she strides from the backyard and onto the porch of the house's back door. All the lights are off inside the house. She bends down to the doormat and slips out a shiny silver key and unlocks the door to her house. Safe in her own home at last. She flips open the kitchen light and ventures inside. The house is completely quiet. At least there would be no distractions while she did her homework and studying. She walks past the dining room and into the living room where there's a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. She slips into her room quickly after darting up the stairs, careful not to make any noise and shuts the door with a soft creak.

* * *

The next morning...

The shrill beeping of an alarm clock blasts away in his ears, jolting him upright on his bed at six in the morning. In his dank apartment, the sun peeks through his window as he rubs the sleep from his eyes and grumbles. Since he can't afford his heat bills, he's forced to sleep under a pile of bedsheets and blankets and old clothes. Soul lets out a loud yawn and slips off of his bed absent-mindedly, sulking as he prepares for his first day at his new school that he had just transferred to after he was expelled from his last school for "cutting so many classes that he might as well not be there," as his former principal had pointed out harshly.

For breakfast, he runs to the mini-mart convenience store for whatever muffins they have in stock. He arrives thirty minutes late with traces of chocolate muffin crumbs on his jacket, takes his seat in the very back left corner in hopes of not getting noticed. The teacher forgets to introduce him completely and doesn't even notice his presence. None of the other students seems to care either, but eye him suspiciously as he makes his way down the aisle of students. He gives them nonchalant side-glances and continues. But one glance seems to strike him the most. As he catches the eyes of two, mossy pupils gazing at him curiously, a chill runs down his spine. He's seen those eyes before.

He pauses to absorb her gaze. The blonde-headed girl darts her eyes back to the front of the classroom quickly where the teacher is continuing his lesson. Her hair is in pigtails. She's wearing a yellow sweater vest and red-plaid skirt. Soul resumes his walk but keeps a steady, suspicious gaze on her. He swears that she looks eerily familiar.

Soul shakes his head with disbelief. He denies the thought and makes it to his seat, adjacent to hers. There's no way in hell she'd be here. There are probably a million girls who look like her in Death City anyways since her look isn't original enough to stand out. As his first class drags on, he keeps a steady gaze on her.

As the bell rings and he finally rouses, the class gathers their belongings and heads to their next class. He slowly stands up and pushes his chair back in the desk, absently listening to the ubiquitous chatter.

"Hey! What are you planning on doing this Saturday night?" one of his classmates asks her friend.

"Oh, nothing. Wanna hang?" she responds happily as they walk about of the classroom together.

The pigtailed girl bends down to scoop up a pencil that she had dropped before, not taking notice in his staring. She perks her head up suddenly and smiles. Two boys are waiting for her at the doorframe. A boy with strange blue hair, wearing a beanie and a another boy with black hair and golden eyes wave at her. "Are you coming, Maka?" the blue-haired boy asks.

She smiles. "Yeah! Hold on!" She says as she grabs her book and trots towards them. Before she leaves, she swivels her head to acknowledge him with curiosity. Soul freezes. She offers him a bright and friendly smile, then ventures out the door with her friends.

He cocks his head at her as she leaves. Strange, he thinks. He can swear that it's the voice of his enemy.

* * *

**A/N: I know, there are probably a lot of grammatical and spelling errors throughout the chapter, but that's because I edited a bit and just wanted to get it out for all of you guys! Hope you liked it! Please remember to drop a review of what you think!**


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